"Effective Educators" and public schools under attack in Wisconsin
Dear Wisconsin Politicians and Department of Public Instruction,
It is now time to pronounce standards and accountability based education reform dead. No more high stakes tests tied to the common core standards. The common core standards are political and not educational standards. They are NOT supported by research or “internationally benchmarked.” No more “school report cards” and call for a moratorium on “Educator Effectiveness.” Stop punishing teachers for the invalid and eugenics influenced test scores produced by the children they are supposed to teach.
You cannot continue to insist that teachers close the achievement gap. Poverty, racism and classism devastate a child’s chances at academic success. Great teachers are necessary but the research is clear—out of school factors far outweigh in school factors. The American Statistical Association has stated that using test scores to punish and reward teachers should not be pursued at this point in time. “Educator Effectiveness” will create the illusion that we can figure out which teachers will help close the achievement gap
Just so you know, the teachers that I work with daily are offended and concerned. They have been blamed for everything that is wrong in this state and country relentlessly for the last 10 years.
As I stated above, the achievement gap is the direct result of poverty. Poverty is the direct result of bad social and economic policy with roots stemming from systemic racism and classism. Bad social and economic policy is the result of politicians and lobbyists. Systemic racism and classism is exacerbated by attacking and defunding public schools in favor of “accountability” schemes that only help testing and data companies get rich on what’s left in the public education budget. Defunded public schools that serve our most vulnerable children and communities will continue to add to the achievement gap.
If you really want to make a dent in the achievement gap stop talking about distractions like teacher effectiveness, standards, and new accountability scams. Address the fact that our public BustED Pencils BLOG: "Effective Educators" and public schools under attack in Wisconsin: